Collective:Unconscious
Collective:Unconscious is a non-profit (501(c)(3)) corporation, founded in New York City in 1994, and incorporated in 1995http://www.taxexemptworld.com/organizations/new_york_ny_10013.asp. Originally based on Ludlow Street in New York's Lower East Side, in 2004 it relocated to Tribeca until July 2008. Collective:Unconscious has had a notable effect on New York City's downtown culture, society, and entertainment, and has been recognized in the way of financial support by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council,The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Past Recipients the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, partial support from a 2001 Absolut Angel grant for art and technology, and a formal permanent position in the New York University Elmer Holmes Bobst Library special Fales Library Downtown Collection. History .]] Collective:Unconscious produced hundreds of performances through the 1990s and 2000s at its own facility as well as other locations. Members also supported performance sub-groups, such as Network 23, IFAM, and Tribeca Lab Theater. These groups have mounted works at Collective's home facilities, the Knitting Factory, the BWAC festival at Red Hook, P.S. 122, Exit Art, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, Theater for the New City, La Plaza Cultural and the Sixth Street/Avenue B Garden, as well as touring internationally with the play Charlie Victor Romeo. Collective:Unconscious also founded its own unofficial parade, the annual July 4th Monster Parade and in conjunction with sub-group IFAM, won several Coney Island Mermaid Parade contests in the Sea Monster category (see photo, left). Collective:Unconscious artists have participated in several festivals, on and off site, including the New York International Fringe Festival, Underground Zero Festival, and the Downtown Arts Festival. Artists who have participated in Collective:Unconscious include the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, Christopher X. Brodeur, Patty Chang, Jessica Delfino, Faceboy, Karen Finley, Finnegan the Poet, Christian Finnegan, Lloyd Floyd, Janeane Garofalo, Joey Gay, Andrew J. Lederer, Jonny McGovern, Rev. Jen Miller, Michael Portnoy, the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, and Nick Zedd. A detailed list of these performances can be found at the Fales Collection at the Bobst Library of New York University. Pre-History While a nearby performance art space in the East Village was known as Gargoyle Mechanique (Laboratory), Collective:Unconscious, and Unconscious Collective, and some overlap between these organizations exists, they have no official affiliation with Collective:Unconscious or Collective:Unconscious Corporation. Lower East Side theater Collective:Unconscious Theater was officially established in a condemned brothel previously known as "Cucho Tailor" on Ludlow Street between Stanton Street and Rivington Street in the Lower East Side of New York City in 1994. In recognition of its sordid history, the first open performance in the space was also named "Cucho Tailor". Thousands of performances followed until 2004 . In addition to hosting a number of unique series such as Reverend Jen's Anti-Slam and Faceboy'z Open Mic, Collective:Unconscious has also hosted several festivals, including the New York International Fringe Festival, the Downtown Arts Festival, and the New York Lower East Side Film Festival. The Collective at Ludlow Street shared a place in New York's off-off-Broadway and performance art theater history, along with fellow performance spaces in the neighborhood such as Surf Reality, Todo Con Nada (Nada), Gargoyle Mechanique, The Present Company, House of Candles, and Piano's (Theater). It was noted as "entry-level Bohemia and thoroughly casual" by The New York Times. The Collective seated approximately 75 people in the main floor, and occasionally opened areas on the second floor and in the basement for special events, such as the annual "Auto-Historical Event" anniversary performance. As a commercial space Collective:Unconscious faced repeated increases in rent over the decade , which ultimately drove the Collective theater (as well as Surf Reality, The Present Company, House of Candles, and Todo Con Nada, among others) from the Lower East Side. The Collective:Unconscious theater was vacated in 2004, and subsequently demolished. As of 2008, the empty lot remains undeveloped. Tribeca theater Collective:Unconscious moved to its Tribeca location in 2004, and launched new initiatives with the theatrical group The Tank, theater-burlesque innovators Pinchbottom, the annual Underground Zero festival, the New York International Fringe Festival , Shifting Ambition Theater's No Alarms (Headfullofradio), and many others. Among the headliners were Karen Finley and Neal Medlyn, Mike Daisey , Annie Sprinkle ('Exposed: Experiments in Love, Sex, Death and Art'), and East River Commedia. In July 2008, the Tribeca facility had to be abandoned due to a sewage situation. Collective:Unconscious, as an artistic organization, is currently reconstituting into a new art form. Gallery Image:CU145Ludlow1999.jpg|Collective:Unconscious, 1999, in New York's Lower East Side, featuring a monster robot. Image:Autohistorical1999.jpg|Collective:Unconscious schematic of Ludlow facility for a Collective Auto-Historical Freak-Out. Image:Cucho_tailor.jpg|Opening event for Collective:Unconscious October 20 & 21, 1995, curated by co-founder Caterina Bartha. Image:Cuchotailor2.jpg|Additional poster for "Cucho Tailor" event See also *Surf Reality *ABC No Rio *Art Stars *Performance Space 122 *Upright Citizens Brigade References External links *Collective:Unconscious homepage Category:Performing arts Category:Performance art Category:New York City performance art Category:Theatre companies Category:Theatres Category:Theatre in the United States Category:Lower East Side of Manhattan Category:Culture of New York City Category:Squats Category:Non-profit organizations Category:DIY spaces sr:Collective:Unconscious sh:Collective:Unconscious